Why Supply Chain Integration Is Crucial In The Industry 4.0 Era

Local Motors is a carmaker with a difference. Rather than following the traditional vehicle design process, the Arizona-based micro-multinational instead crowd-sources its car designs from an online community. Once the design is chosen, the company harnesses advances in translating data from the digital to the virtual world to build cars almost entirely by 3D printing. This innovative process enables it to build a completely new model of car from scratch in just one year – far less than the industry average of six [1].

This is a great example of the revolution that is sweeping the world of manufacturing. Not since the ‘lean revolution’ of the 1970s, often dubbed the ‘third industrial revolution’, have such radical changes been made to the way production is designed, monitored and executed, and the repercussions of this sea-change are being felt all the way down the value chain right into the hands of the end-customer. Today’s always-on, e-commerce-driven global economy is creating a brave new world known as the fourth industrial revolution, or ‘Industry 4.0’ – and businesses need to rapidly adapt to avoid being left behind.

Industry 4.0 is shorthand for applying new, digitally-driven capabilities to manufacturing and at each subsequent stage in the value chain. At its simplest, it can mean applying technology to a single stage in the chain – a gold mine in Africa leveraged big data from its sensors to discover an irregularity at a particular point in its production process, for example. Fixing this increased yield by 3.7 percent – or US$20 million – each year [2].

However, to realize the full potential of Industry 4.0, companies are looking more holistically at their value chains. With four decades of experience in supporting customers’ supply chains, our business is uniquely positioned to observe how these changes are impacting supply chains everywhere. I believe that a rethink of supply chain management is needed if manufacturers and retailers are to successfully harness the possibilities of Industry 4.0.

Making supply chains customer-centric.

Once viewed purely in terms of its potential to yield cost efficiencies, supply chain management has evolved. Thanks to big data analytics and changing customer expectations, demand forecasting is more sophisticated. This means that modern supply chains now have a vital additional role in ensuring customer satisfaction and retention.

To achieve this goal, logistics now needs to work across the company from the front-end to the back-end, seamlessly integrating production, inventory, marketing, sales, payments, distribution and product returns [3] to optimize the supply chain model that balances cost efficiencies with keeping customers happy.

Embracing innovation.

Achieving this degree of integration is complex – in a recent research study, only 7 percent of business executives believed they had created fully-integrated businesses [4] that could be regarded as Industry 4.0-ready. Access to the right technology is only one part of the puzzle; businesses also need a culture that embraces innovation and a workforce – from c-suites to general staff – that is willing to innovate to drive change [5].

However, these barriers to implementing an Industry 4.0-ready supply chain have to be weighed against the potential benefits – and when they are, an almost unassailable business case emerges in favor of making the leap for businesses large and small. Consider the aircraft maker Airbus. The company has invested significantly in creating a “Factory of the Future” by building aircraft in virtual reality, with production lines that include computer-suited personnel and robots working side by side [6]. As a result of these changes, which the company dubs ‘smart production’, Airbus is able to keep pace with increased demand, and also now manufactures its products in a more sustainable way [7].

Moreover, the benefits of Industry 4.0. are certainly not confined to large multinational corporations. Closer to home, China-based furniture retailer Markor realized that it could innovate its supply chain to identify trends in customer purchasing behavior. The company created a smartphone app that interrogates big data to identify these trends, then make personalized recommendations to customers on product designs. Using mobile devices, sales staff can show products demos and 3D images of custom furniture. When sales are made, customer preferences and purchase details are saved automatically, and the company uses the information to drive future business [8].

The next frontier for competition.

Of course, these are just some examples of technology overhauling the supply chain. Touch-screens, robotics and augmented reality[9] can all be orchestrated to achieve value-creating supply chains capable of responding automatically to changes in end-demand [10]. The central question is not what technology is harnessed, but whether you work with the right manufacturing, technology or logistics providers to enable your supply chain to be truly integrated and demand-driven.

Get it right, and you’ll be on the way to achieving efficiencies, reduced time-to-market, cost savings, improved productivity and revenue gains. Despite the substantial investment involved, more than half of the respondents in a recent Industry 4.0 global survey anticipated return on investment in just two years [11].

In a world where business is increasingly transacted digitally, preparing your supply chain for Industry 4.0 represents the next frontier in the battle for competitive edge.

Karen Reddington is President of Asia Pacific Division of FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company. In this role, which Dr. Reddington took up in January 2015, she heads up Asia Pacific from its headquarters in Hong Kong. The Asia Pacific Division comprises three regions: North Pacific, based in Tokyo; China, based in Shanghai; and South Pacific, based in Singapore. Dr. Reddington is responsible for leading the FedEx business across the region, including overall planning and implementation of corporate strategies and operations across 30 countries and territories with more than 18,000 employees.

This is an article contributed to Young Upstarts and published or republished here with permission. All rights of this work belong to the authors named in the article above.